The Marvelettes were an American girl group that achieved popularity in the early to mid-1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart, and Georgia Dobbins, who was replaced by Wanda Young prior to the group signing their first deal. They were the first successful act of Motown Records after the Miracles and its first significantly successful female group after the release of the 1961 number-one single, "Please Mr. Postman", one of the first number-one singles recorded by an all-female vocal group and the first by a Motown recording act.
"Someday We'll Be Together" is a song written by Johnny Bristol, Jackey Beavers, and Harvey Fuqua. It was the last of twelve American number-one pop singles for Diana Ross & the Supremes on the Motown label. Although it was released as the final Supremes song featuring Diana Ross, who left the group for a solo career in January 1970, it was recorded as Ross' first solo single and Supremes members Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong do not sing on the recording. Both appear on the B-side, "He's My Sunny Boy".
"Please Mr. Postman" is a song written by Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, Freddie Gorman, Brian Holland and Robert Bateman. It is the debut single by the Marvelettes for the Tamla (Motown) label, notable as the first Motown song to reach the number-one position on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart. The single achieved this position in late 1961; it hit number one on the R&B chart as well. "Please Mr. Postman" became a number-one hit again in early 1975 when the Carpenters' cover of the song reached the top position of the Billboard Hot 100. "Please Mr. Postman" has been covered several times, including by the British rock group The Beatles in 1963. The 2017 song Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man interpolates "Please Mr. Postman".
"The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game" is a 1966 song written by Smokey Robinson. It was a hit single in 1967 for the American girl group The Marvelettes for the Motown label, from their self-titled album released that same year. In 1980, Jamaican singer Grace Jones remade the song and had minor success with her version in the US. The song has had several cover versions over the years. Blondie included a cover as the closing track on their 1982 conceptual album The Hunter. Massive Attack and Tracey Thorn recorded a cover for the soundtrack to Batman Forever in 1995. Most recently, Bette Midler performed a rendition included in the deluxe edition of her 2014 studio album It's The Girls!. Another cover also appeared on Jerry Garcia Compliments in 1974 and was performed live by the Jerry Garcia Band until into the early 90s.
Gladys Catherine Horton was an American R&B and pop singer, famous for being the founder and lead singer of the popular Motown all-female vocal group The Marvelettes.
Wanda LaFaye Young, also known as Wanda Rogers, was an American singer, known for being a member and, after 1965, the lead singer of the popular Motown all-female singing group the Marvelettes.
"Don't Mess with Bill" is a million-selling Gold-certified 1966 single recorded by The Marvelettes for Motown Records' Tamla label. Written and produced by Smokey Robinson, "Don't Mess with Bill" features a lead vocal by Wanda Young. The single peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1966, and at number three on Billboard's R&B singles chart. "Don't Mess with Bill" was the Marvelettes' final Top 10 single.
"Beechwood 4-5789" is a song written by Marvin Gaye, William "Mickey" Stevenson and George Gordy. It was a 1962 hit single for the Motown girl group The Marvelettes on Motown's Tamla subsidiary record label. The song became a hit again when it was covered by the pop duo The Carpenters in 1982.
"I Want a Guy" is a song written by Freddie Gorman, Berry Gordy and Brian Holland and was the debuting single for Motown girl group The Supremes in 1961. It was also recorded by The Marvelettes on their album Please Mr. Postman. Featuring Diana Ross in lead, the song was a doo-wop ballad similar to what the Supremes had been recording since forming as "The Primettes" two years earlier.
"Too Many Fish in the Sea" is a 1964 hit song recorded by Motown singing group The Marvelettes. It was the group's first top 40 pop hit in almost a year, reaching #25 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was one of the first hit singles written by Norman Whitfield; Eddie Holland also had a hand in the writing. "Too Many Fish..." was also Whitfield's first produced single.
"Playboy" is a song composed by Brian Holland, Robert Bateman, Mickey Stevenson and singer Gladys Horton, lead vocalist of the Motown singing group The Marvelettes, who recorded the song and released it as a single on Motown's Tamla imprint in 1962. The single, led by Horton, is about a man who fools around with a lot of women and the woman who narrates the story warns him to stay away from her due to the stories she heard of him "running around with every woman in town". Horton is helped out in the song by her Marvelettes cohorts Wanda Young, Georgeanna Tillman, Katherine Anderson & Juanita Cowart. This was released as the third single by the Marvelettes and was their second top ten pop hit reaching number seven on the charts while reaching number four on the R&B chart.
"Twistin' Postman" is a song recorded by Motown singing group The Marvelettes, who released it in 1961, and was the follow-up to their smash debut single, "Please Mr. Postman". Much like that song, it is led by original Marvelette Gladys Horton, and is partially based on the then-current Twist dance move. The song's subject is a sequel of the original "Postman" single and this time the narrator is finally happy that the postman has delivered a letter from the narrator's boyfriend. The song became a modest hit for the group reaching number thirteen on the R&B charts and number thirty-four on the pop singles chart in early 1962. A third single, "Playboy", would return the group to the top ten of the pop and R&B charts later that year.
"When You're Young and in Love" is a song composed by Van McCoy which first became a Top 40 hit single for the Marvelettes in 1967: a remake by the Flying Pickets would reach the UK Top Ten in 1984.
Katherine Elaine Anderson Schaffner is an American singer, famed for her tenure in the Motown all-female singing group the Marvelettes. Though not known for any lead spots acquired by Gladys Horton, Wanda Young, or Ann Bogan, Schaffner's role was as notable as she was the only member to survive the group's several incarnations that occurred during the 1960s until breaking up in 1970.
The Return of The Marvelettes was marketed as the last album by the group, although in reality their last had been 1969's In Full Bloom. It was originally recorded to launch the solo career of former Marvelette Wanda Young, and was produced by Smokey Robinson.
Playboy is the third album by the Motown girl group The Marvelettes, released in 1962. It capitalized on their hit singles "Playboy" and "Beechwood 4-5789". It also includes the single "Someday, Someway" and "Forever", a heartfelt standard that would be released the following year as the B-side of the single "Locking Up My Heart" and join the A-side on the charts. Other compositions include "Goddess of Love", "Cry Over You", and "Mix It Up". George Gordy, William "Mickey" Stevenson and Marvin Gaye, who had produced "Beechwood 4-5789" all did some work on the Playboy LP as well.
Sophisticated Soul is the eighth album issued by Motown girl-group The Marvelettes. It is the first album to feature Ann Bogan who replaced Gladys Horton in 1967, and most of the lead vocals are by Wanda Young. Like many Motown albums produced in the late 1960s, Sophisticated Soul featured backing from The Andantes, Motown's premier backing group, on certain tracks, others feature Bogan and Katherine Anderson.
"Locking Up My Heart" is a 1963 single released by Motown girl group The Marvelettes on the Tamla record label.
"Too Hurt to Cry, Too Much in Love to Say Goodbye" is a 1963 song and single written and composed by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland. Credited to the Darnells the performers on both sides of the single were in fact the Andantes, Holland–Dozier–Holland, Mary Wilson of the Supremes (B-side), and members of the Marvelettes, the Four Tops, and the Temptations. Nobody involved with the production on either side was pleased with the false credit. Whatever the reason it was done, it didn't work as the single only peaked at 17 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 charts.
Originally titled The Marvelettes Smash Hits of 1962, The Marvelettes Sing was rushed out in April of that year, not a month after most of it was recorded in a few fast sessions, to try extending the commercial life of the number 34 pop charting "Twistin' Postman". In keeping with the latter record and the tastes of the times, there is a certain emphasis on "Twist" sides here, including a rendition of Sam Cooke's "Twistin' the Night Away". The Marvelettes Sing also included their rendition of the Mary Wells number "The One Who Really Loves You", using the same backing track as Wells' record.
